Georgia Perimeter College will soon become part of Georgia State University after a proposal recommending the consolidation of the two schools from Board of Regents Chancellor Hank Huckaby was approved Tuesday morning.

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Ann Capolino Brewer was a natural leader known for her relentless efforts to better her community. She was especially known for her work on behalf of those suffering from cystic fibrosis, and was a champion of Georgia farmers as one of the first organizers of the organic food movement.

The old Dover Cemetery is all but invisible from the road save for a few heavily worn headstones peeking out from a family plot overgrown with long, dry grass and pine saplings. Further back, some of the more recent headstones have been tended to, but a collapsed wire fence and thickets of brambles stand as evidence of years of neglect.

So, members of Newton County's Leadership Collaborative, a group of officials from business, schools and various government entities, agreed Wednesday that they want to have more meetings as a group and to keep in closer touch through e-mail.

Newton County and its five municipalities turned in their SPLOST wish lists recently, and county commissioners are now tasked with cutting down $160 million in requests to an approximately $55 million final list. For a full list of project see the attached PDF.

The special local option sales tax is an optional 1 percent sales tax that is collected specifically to pay for capital projects, normally infrastructure and buildings. Newton County has had four SPLOTS previously, with the first one being passed by voters in 1987 to build Lake Varner.

Come visit the Newton County Animal Shelter at 210 Lower River Road, open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. They would love for you to see what great animals they have for adoption. Telephone (770) 786-9514.

The General Election is a month away, and The Covington News and Covington/Newton County Chamber of Commerce will seek to prepare voters at a forum from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Covington Branch Library on Floyd Street.

Last fall, the Rev. Sharon Collins stood proudly in front of her peers and told them she believed in Newton County, IECDG and the public park being built in her neighborhood, Fairview Estates, calling it a field of dreams.